"Doing what's right – Doing our best – Doing for others"

FFA

During national FFA week the FFA Leadership class visited Garden Spot Village to make bud vases with several of the seniors. To begin, FFA members introduced FFA and discussed the importance of the FFA program. The students and seniors had fun working together to make bud vases, which the seniors then got to take with them.

The Whole hog facility buffet was part of the whole hog fundraiser. The facility buffet ran along side the take out whole hog event. Garden Spot teachers had the opportunity to come down and enjoy their meals in the Ag wing. The food was prepared and served by FFA members. The proceeds from the whole hog event were split between the New Hope Uganda and Adrianne Huber through Eastern Mennonite Missions.

The whole hog event is a benefit event that FFA does to donate money to charity. year the money will be donated to New Hope Uganda and to Adrianne Huber through Eastern Mennonite Missions. Hogs are roasted and then picked to make pulled pork. The meal included a pulled pork sandwich, baked beans, coleslaw, applesauce, chips, drink and cookie. Part of the event included take out meals that were delivered to people in the community. There were about 450 takeout orders. This fundraiser proved to be very successful!

This year the FFA winter officer retreat was held at Mountain Dale Farms in Snyder County Pennsylvania. While the officer team was there they had several planning sections that planed the Program of Activities for the rest of the school year. It was a good experience to get to know each other better, especially for the new officers to get to know the upperclassmen. Free time was spent playing card games and games like capture the flag. The pond was also a lot of fun this year because it was frozen.

During the Pennsylvania Farm show Grassland FFA members had the opportunity to go work at the Penn Ag food both. It is a fun day with friends spent serving food to the customers at the stand. You also have the chance to try some of the delicious food yourself.

Katelyn Byram and Alyssa Waite work at the Penn Ag food booth during the farm show.

During the Pennsylvania FFA Convention which was held Monday January 7th seven students from Grassland FFA received their Keystone Degree. In all, 304 Pennsylvania FFA members received their Keystone Degrees. The Keystone Degree is the highest degree in the state of Pennsylvania that an FFA member can receive. Applicants first have to earn three other degrees as well as go through an application process. First the applications and Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) records have to be evaluated by local committee before they can be sent onto a state committee for verification. One Grassland FFA member, Seth Yoder was also an Eastern Region Placement Keystone Star. He got first in county and went on to become a finalist in the State Keystone Star Competition. Katie Mueller also earned her Keystone Degree but was unable to attend the ceremony.

In the last several years, if you’ve ever been to the Pennsylvania Farm show during the day on a Monday you probably noticed a lot of blue and gold jackets. But do you know why? It’s because of the FFA Mid- Winter Convention. Besides those receiving their Keystone Degrees, there are also first year members receiving their own blue and gold FFA jackets. First year members had to do several things to earn their FFA jackets including writing an essay explaining what the Greenhand Degree is and how they plan to get it as well as interview a former FFA member and find out how FFA changed their lives. And thanks to the FFA Alumni Association, this year 304 FFA members statewide were able to receive jackets. They would go to the convention in official dress, except for the jacket that they would be receiving during the ceremony. Then all of the recipients would put on their jackets for the first time together. This year the Grassland FFA chapter had three members receive jackets.

If you have been to the ag wing in the middle of December, most likely you smelled the citrus before you saw it. The citrus sale in one of FFA’s biggest fundraisers. We order the fruit and get it delivered right form Florida. FFA members sell fruit to their neighbors, family and friends, as well as their teachers who are often supportive of the fundraiser. All the fruit is sorted to make sure that none is rotten. Students use the money earned from the fundraiser to help pay for out-of-class events that they chapter has.

Each year the state FFA officers visit chapters throughout Pennsylvania to interact with students and various Ag classes. This year four officers visited the GSHS chapter during the Horticulture, Vet Science, FFA 9, and FFA 12 classes. The officers led team building games and helped students understand all of the opportunities FFA has to offer. The activities taught FFA students about team work, following directions, creativity and problem solving skills.

Members of the Grassland FFA teamed up to win the Lancaster County FFA Hunter Safety Trap shoot Competition. This year Garden Spot placed 6 individuals in the top ten to outdistance Solanco for the team title. FFA members who helped Grassland FFA win the title for the 5th consecutive time were: 10th place Ben Snyder, 9th place Noah Good, 6th place RJ Davis, 5th place Seth Yoder, who also won the most improved shooter award, 4th place Connor Bender, 3rd place Nate Good. Bob Lauffer, FFA advisor and coach of the team commented that he was very pleased with the outcome and the sportsmanship shown and camaraderie enjoyed by the Grassland team at this event. He did comment that he would like to see more underclassmen participating next year as we only had one freshman and one sophomore competing this year.